filters

[blakwidoe]

I have HOBs on my tanks all biowheels, my question is this....
I know not to touch the Biowheels themselves but what about the gunk that builds up below the wheels where the water dumps out is this safe to clean or is this also beneficial bacteria?

 

[impur]

You can clean it. I have 2 emperor 400s on my 55, i try to clean the biowheel in one filter every other month. Gets nasty.......just rinse it off in some tank water. You won't kill the bacteria. The stuff that grows on there, the brown nasty stuff, contributes nitrates to the system so why not just give it a good rinse?

 

[spottedbovine]

Ijust put an airstone into my hob, thought extra oxgyen would make it more effective, and didn't want to disturd the surface area of the tank 2 much, just a bit noisy though

 

[blakwidoe]

ty impur that sounds like a plan

 

[canarsie11]

Just use aquarium water to clean them and you can clean anything but them bio wheels!

 

[impur]

Just use aquarium water to clean them and you can clean anything but them bio wheels!

You can clean the biowheels. If the filter has 2, just clean one every other time. That way even in the event you kill every single part of the bacteria colony (highly unlikely especially if you clean it with the water that was just running over it) you still have the other biowheel that will seed it rather quickly. I have done this for years with no ill effects.